Stravinsky's “Oedipus Rex” returns to the Gulbenkian Grand Auditorium

“Oedipus Rex” de Stravinsky regressa ao Grande Auditório da Gulbenkian

Live music

Friday 2 October

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The Gulbenkian Orchestra and Choir open the season with Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, conducted by Hannu Lintu, in a programme that also includes Debussy's La Damoiselle élue.

🎤 Stravinsky's “Oedipus Rex” returns to the Gulbenkian Grand Auditorium. The Gulbenkian Orchestra and Choir open the season with Oedipus Rex by Igor Stravinsky, under the direction of Hannu Lintu. The work combines opera, oratorio and theatre in a monumental rereading of the tragedy of Oedipus, performed in Latin and articulated by the presence of a narrator. Stravinsky composed Oedipus Rex on a libretto by Jean Cocteau based on Sophocles. The ritual distance created by the Latin language, the choral blocks and the neoclassical writing turns a familiar story into a ceremony of great dramatic intensity. Before Oedipus Rex, the programme includes La Damoiselle élue by Claude Debussy, a work for female voices, choir and orchestra inspired by a poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The contrast between Debussy's sonic sensuality and Stravinsky's severe architecture shapes the evening. The cast brings together Erika Baikoff, Victoria Karkacheva, Russell Thomas, Paul Gay, Günther Groissböck and the actor João Reis as narrator. The approximate duration is 105 minutes, including a 20-minute interval. Programme: Claude Debussy, La Damoiselle élue. 20-minute interval. Igor Stravinsky, Oedipus Rex. On stage: Choir